No pain, no gain

BRENDAN RODGERS insists he always knew his early days at Liverpool would be
painful.

And he has proved spot-on as the Kop head into today’s Anfield clash with
Newcastle languishing in the bottom half of the table.

Rodgers also had to deal with the embarrassment of being dumped out of the
Capital One Cup by his old club, Swansea.

Yet the Anfield boss insists his motto when he arrived at Liverpool was ‘No
pain, no gain’.

Despite his club’s poor start to the season, Rodgers says he has been hugely
encouraged by the attitude of senior players. And he glows with pride when
he speaks of the support he has had from Steven Gerrard.

Rodgers said: “I’ve got the England captain coming in at 32 years of age,
asking about how he can improve his game and be better.

“That’s great to me, that’s what fulfilment is in the job.”

Rodgers has been promised at least £10million to strengthen his squad in
January and has Theo Walcott top of his wanted list.

But he admits Liverpool’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, will not
repeat the sort of spending that saw Kenny Dalglish splash £100m-plus on
players.

Rodgers said: “I have always known there is no quick fix here. That’s why I
knew there would be some of that pain along the way.

“If you can’t buy big, you get in the best players you can work with and help
them improve. That is the stage we are at.”